3D printing builds on itself

MatterHackers CEO Lars Brubaker poses with a Type A Machines 3D printer at the Lake Forest startup. The red object is a small puzzle toy made by one of the printers.EUGENE GARCIA, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

Erick Wolf is a patent attorney with a mechanical engineering degree . He's also a garage mechanic who bought cars cheap in high school, fixing them up and selling them for profit. Recently his divergent interests came together to land him in the world of 3D printing.

Wolf, 38, wanted a machine that could spit out plastic parts for a 1/10th scale model of a sports car he designed. He bought a printer just before Christmas 2011, then fought with it until New Years before scrapping the machine for parts. He was interested in a printer that could more or less print itself – churning out some of its own parts – but the one that arrived in the mail wasn't up to par.

"The mechanical purity of (the idea) really appealed to me," he said. "I realized I was going to have to make it myself, unfortunately."

Today, a couple of Orange County companies, including Wolf's Airwolf 3D in Costa Mesa, are doing their part to move 3D printing from a hobbyist's toy into a mainstream technology that could shake up the world of manufacturing.

3D printing pops up in headlines every so often for enabling such oddities as a working plastic gun you can download and print in your bedroom, or a life-saving structure printed to the exact body specifications of a particular patient.

But if the technology ever becomes fast and efficient enough, 3D printers could turn factory economics on their head. Imagine producing thousands of variations of an object, rather than millions of copies of the same thing. There'd be no need to ship parts around the world when they can be printed next door.

That possibility is the focus of a $1 billion Obama administration initiative to set up a network of advanced manufacturing research hubs around the United States. UC Irvine is competing to become one of those hubs.

"You could print – make – at the source what you need," said Marc Madou, a professor at UCI who is working on the university's efforts in advanced manufacturing. "Suddenly everyone can get into the game because the entry to manufacturing suddenly becomes so small. Everyone can compete."

But the technology remains too expensive, kludgy and difficult to use for the average consumer. Some printers use proprietary materials that can be purchased only from the printer company. Others can print with a variety of materials but practically require an advanced degree to operate.

As with the personal computer and smartphone industries, 3D printing's ability to grow will depend to some degree on which path companies take on whether to adopt open-source, easily modified systems, or closed, proprietary ones. Being more open (think Google and Android) allows manufacturers to use a wider variety of materials and appeals to buyers, like schools and hobbyists, that want to customize the machine or print their own parts. A closed-end system (like Apple's) may end up costing more but be easier to use.

Wolf is starting out in the "open" camp.

"For rapid development, open-source is the way to go," said Wolf.

Wolf made his first printer from open-source designs he found in several different countries. "He woke me up at 3 in the morning," recalls Eva Wolf, Erick's wife and business partner. "There it was, printing away."

That first machine is still chugging in the back of his office, 3,500 hours and counting. By Christmas of last year, Wolf had started handing off his clients as a patent attorney and by March he was working full time at Airwolf 3D, which is on pace to ship more than 1,000 printers this year.

At Airwolf 3D's headquarters in Costa Mesa, a workshop is lined with printers, making other printers.

Related Links

MatterHackers CEO Lars Brubaker poses with a Type A Machines 3D printer at the Lake Forest startup. The red object is a small puzzle toy made by one of the printers. EUGENE GARCIA, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
An Airwolf 3D XL printer makes a collection of red plastic parts at the Costa Mesa startup. The open, rigid frame device prints objects onto a glass bed. EUGENE GARCIA, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
A gear differential 3D printed from a computer model is on display at MatterHackers, a Lake Forest startup. EUGENE GARCIA, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
MatterHackers CEO Lars Brubaker holds up an Airwolf 3D printer which his company uses and sells at their Lake Forest startup. The printer connects to a personal computer via a standard USB cable. EUGENE GARCIA, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
Spools of filaments for 3D printing are displayed on a wall at MatterHackers, a Lake Forest startup. The plastic and nylon filaments sell for $31-$45 per spool. EUGENE GARCIA, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
An intricate Yoda head printed by an Airwolf 3D printer is one of the many items on display at the Costa Mesa startup. EUGENE GARCIA, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
Erick Wolf, president of Airwolf 3D, holds one of the startup's XL printers along with some finished sample projects at the Costa Mesa company. The company's logo on the wall was also 3D printed. EUGENE GARCIA, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
Erick Wolf, president of Airwolf 3D, holds up a printer part that was made by another printer at the Costa Mesa startup. The company sells two different models of printers, the 5.5 for $1,695 and the larger XL for $2,295. EUGENE GARCIA, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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